Chapter Five
Grace
I was lying in bed, unable to sleep, when I heard the key slide into the lock. That motherfucker!
He was like a damn toddler. If you ignored the bad behavior rather than acknowledge it, it would stop, right?
Fucking wrong!
I heard the door open, and I was too stunned to move.
He broke into my fucking room! The door closed behind him and I lay there still, waiting to see what he planned to do.
The room was dark, but I heard the sound of leather sliding off his body and the small thunk when he set it on the dresser.
He toed off his boots, and his jeans made a slight scratching sound as he slid them down his legs.
I quietly reached for my phone, and when he lifted the blanket to slip into my bed, I threw the fucking thing with everything I had.
Fucking bullseye!
“Fuck!” he yelled when the phone hit his chest. “Jesus Christ, Grace. Are you trying to kill me?”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You broke into my room?”
I jumped from the bed, the state of my clothing forgotten, until I stood in front of him and flipped the light switch on the wall. His eyes traveled over my body, and when I looked down to see what he was staring at, I noticed how hard my nipples were.
The thin tank top I wore was practically see-through. And the shorts may as well have been panties for how small and snug they were.
“Damn, woman.” He looked up at me and grinned.
“Get the fuck out.” I walked over to open the door for him, and King wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me back against his chest. I could feel his erection as it pressed against my back.
His hand found my throat, and he whispered, “Not a fucking chance.” Then those traitorous lips brushed a path down my neck and shoulder.
I tried to pull away. It was useless, and if I were honest with myself, I would admit that I wasn’t really trying to get away.
He smacked my ass as he stepped back. “Get back in bed.” He laid down and pulled the blanket back as though he were inviting me into his bed. I grabbed a pillow and smashed my face into it, letting out a frustrated scream.
“If you want to scream, I can make that happen, Princess,” he growled.
“Don’t fucking call me that!”
Grabbing my robe, I tied the sash as tight as I could without cutting off my circulation.
Be strong, Grace!
Marching to the door, I yanked it open, leaving him alone in my room. Then I strolled down the hall in nothing but my robe and the bits of clothing I had under it.
I heard the door slam behind me as I made it to the stairs and quickly ran down them. I needed to make it to the main room before he caught me.
His voice was loud as he yelled, “GRACE! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!”
I smiled, knowing the big, bad president was making a fool of himself. I didn’t know what he hoped to accomplish, but he wasn’t sleeping in my bed.
I walked into the main room with my head held high and climbed onto a stool at the bar. “Joey, I’d like a vodka on the rocks please.”
No sooner had Joey nodded then King entered. He stopped long enough to put his jeans on but left the top two buttons undone. God, he was so damn sexy; I was cussing myself out, telling the greedy bitch not to look.
She didn’t listen any better than King fucking did.
“Joey, don’t give her a fucking thing,” he hissed, pointing at Joey as he rounded the bar until he was standing behind me, caging me in with his hands on the bar. “Princess, you and I need to have a talk.”
“We really don’t, asshole.”
“Grace.”
I spun around on my stool and shoved his chest. “No! You crossed a fucking line.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few of the Gods of Mayhem listening. The one named Poseidon stood up and made his way over to King and me.
“There a problem here?” he asked.
“No!”
“Yes!” King and I answered in unison. “This son of a bitch broke into my room and tried to climb into my bed.”
Poseidon cocked an eyebrow at King. I sat on my stool, smug at the look he was giving King.
“That true?”
“Back the fuck off,” King growled, his eyes on me. I could see that he was angry. I knew I was making a scene, but I was tired of his fucking games. Cash, Gunner, and a few others must have heard King yelling upstairs because they walked in from the hallway. All were in various stages of undress.
“Seems to me she’s not interested. There a reason you forced your way into her room?”
“Poseidon, this is your last fucking warning. This is between me and my old lady.” I gasped at his words. Then I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You his old lady?” Poseidon asked.
“No,” I said, loud and clear.
“She doesn’t seem to ag—”
I jumped when King spun around and punched Poseidon, knocking him to the ground. The other Gods of Mayhem stood, reaching for their guns, as Cash, Gunner, Blade, and Jingles all moved to intercept.
“Stand down!” Zeus yelled. It took a moment, but they put their guns away. King turned around and glared at me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? You knew exactly what you were doing,” he snapped.
“Grace, go ahead upstairs. I’ve got this,” Cash said.
I hopped off the stool and stopped in front of Gunner. “Keep him out of my room.” I glared at King and flipped my finger at him before leaving the room.
As I made it to the stairs, I heard Cash growl, “Church, now.”
The next morning, I made my way to the kitchen. It was early and the clubhouse hadn’t woken up yet. I hadn’t slept much, wondering if King would break into my room again.
“Good morning,” Maureen greeted, handing me a cup of coffee as I sat at the table.
“What are you doing here?”
“Making breakfast.” She gave me a watery smile, and I stood up and pulled her into my arms.
“You should be home resting.”
“I can’t. All I do is think about him and miss him. I told King I needed this. For me.”
We had lost Hash in the attack. He and Maureen had been close ever since she came to Diamond Creek. She’d tried to teach him how to make cinnamon rolls, but he said he didn’t need to learn as long as he had her.
“How are you doing?” she asked. “Declan told me about Mary Ann. I’m so sorry, Grace.”
“I think I need to leave.”
Maureen stared at me, waiting for me to explain. When I didn’t, she asked, “Where would you go?”
“I don’t know.” A tear slipped out. I didn’t want to leave. But what did I have here, really? Rachel was gone. She was my first real friend when I moved here.
All my friends had a connection with the club. Including Indie. She worked for Gunner and now she was Mimic’s old lady. King had called me his old lady last night. I didn’t know why he said it, and I wasn’t going to ask.
“Well, you can’t just wander around the country. It isn’t safe.”
“I have an uncle. I could go see him. Except I don’t know where to find him.” I didn’t even know if Uncle Stephen was really my uncle. That was what I called him. I never knew his last name.
“Maybe Nav could help you find him?”
I shook my head, setting my coffee on the table in front of me.
“Grace.” I turned around, my eyes looking everywhere but at the woman who I desperately wanted to confide in. “What happened?”
I was at war with myself. Confused by what I wanted. No, not confused. I was a masochist. Allowing myself to be hurt over and over again. Letting him into my life in the middle of the night where no one saw us.
“I don’t know what to do. How to feel. I’m so lost, Maureen.” Tears slipped down my face as I wrapped my arms around my waist.
She pulled me against her and my arms went from my waist to hers. She rubbed my back, the way a mom would comfort her daughter, and I cried into her shoulder.
“Why can’t he just love me?” I asked out loud, not expecting an answer. I was thankful she didn’t try to give me one. Maureen wasn’t the type of woman to blow smoke up your ass to make you feel better.
She told it like it was. So, when she said, “Because he’s an asshole,” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“He is an asshole.” I gave her a watery smile, and she grinned back.
“Come on. Coffee and a cinnamon roll will make life bearable.”
We sat down to eat in silence. I was so tired of King’s mixed signals. He wouldn’t touch me. Well, he wouldn’t kiss me. He wouldn’t make love to me. But he came to me at night to hold me.
It started not long after we met. Then last night, he called me his old lady. For years he had chased me. Protected me from others only to play with me. Never holding on to me for long but never letting me go either.
We never spoke about the nights he knocked on my door. Never put our relationship into words. I still didn’t understand the dynamics.
He posted Johnny in the bar. Chasing off every guy who smiled at me. But he never came there himself. He never had a kind word for me unless it was at night.
When we were alone.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew what this was. It was toxic as fuck. I was living the life my mother lived.
In love with the president of a motorcycle club. One who didn’t want to be tied down. One who fucked with other women but wouldn’t fuck me.
I didn’t know how to stop the endless cycle of neglect in the light of day and attention in the darkness of night. The push and pull on my emotions. Here when he needed me. When he was emotionally vulnerable, where no one else could see.
But never truly available.
Never here when I needed him.
The warm liquid slipped down my throat and I closed my eyes against the memories. I hadn’t touched the cinnamon roll. It sat on my plate, mocking me. Telling me that even the woman who had come to mean a great deal to me in a very short time was more his than mine.
I had no one.
“Grace.”
Opening my eyes and looking at Maureen, I tried to hide what I was feeling. I thought I was making a valiant effort at tucking my emotions away.
“I know what you’re thinking. But you’re wrong. You don’t have to walk away from everything you’ve built here. You can walk away from him.”
I laughed at her. I couldn’t help it. She didn’t understand what I was going through. Maureen had gotten married at eighteen. Maybe the man she married wasn’t the love of her life, but they loved each other enough to be faithful.
To build a life together.
And when he died, he loved her enough to send her to the man who was meant to take his place. Now she had a second chance at a greater love. A love women dreamed about. To have someone so consumed by you that they would give anything to make you happy.
“I can’t have a life here without him in it. He won’t let me. And if I’m being completely honest with you and myself, I don’t want a life without him in it.”
“So, what’s different now?” she asked, taking a sip of her coffee, her eyes never leaving mine.
The kitchen door creaked, and I turned to find King standing there, watching me. The truth was, I did have a relationship with King. The only one he was capable of giving me. I had my chance in the beginning to get away. I didn’t take it.
Now I was in too deep to give him up.
I loved him.
And while my heart might crack a little every time he rejected me, it would break in half if I walked away forever.
As he stepped back into the hall, I whispered, “I’m his old lady.”